HGF and cancer: Pro-cancer factors, e.g. hypoxia inducible factors 1α (HIF1α) and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) or anti-cancer factors like tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 2 (TIMP-2) have been associated with cancer aggressiveness or metastasis (Talks et al. 2000; Unwith et al. 2015) in experimental models of cancer progression4.